[HPforGrownups] OOP: Snape's greasiness

[Kelly Grosskreutz]

No: HPFGUIDX 63847

(snip the majority of this post, which more or less discussed all the times
JKR mentioned Snape having greasy hair and speculated on Snape having
extremely oily skin for spoileresque reasons)
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Rane wrote:
Maybe JKR was just being descriptive, but off the top of my head, I
don't think she mentioned Snape's greasiness more than once or twice
in each of the other books. Of course it does play a big role in the
Pensieve, but still, this really jumped out at me.
I've never been much of a supporter for the Vampire!Snape theory -
quite on the contrary - but now I'm not so sure anymore. Does he have
to cover himself in some oil to protect himself from the sun (as many
have suggested before OoP)?
On the other hand, we mainly read that his *hair* is greasy (apart
from Sirius' remark in the Pensieve and possibly the greying
underwear, I can only remember the scene in GoF (The Egg and the Eye)
where it is somewhere mentioned that his temple is greasy - which of
course would be no surprise if his hair is greasy). And hair is a
dead matter, so why would he want to protect his hair? And if that
greying underwear does refer to his oily skin - well, I don't think
much sun would pass through his robes *and* his underwear.
So what's up with it? If he got teased over this at school - and it
didn't sound like it was the first time Sirius mocked him over this
particular fact in the Pensieve scene - why didn't he do anything
about it? Why does he still have the same problem twenty years later?
Surely there are plenty of showers and baths at Hogwarts. This just
doesn't make much sense. I know some argued that when you have a lot
of thin hair, it simply *looks* as though it is greasy - but this
seems to go further than that. Does he have some kind of disease
through which he can't stand water and/or soap? On the other hand,
he's only ever mentioned as being *greasy* - never explicitly as
having a lack of hygiene (apart from Lily's remark in the Pensieve).
I'm not sure what to think of it. I know the subject of his
greasiness has come up in this group before OoP, but I just thought
JKR was really repeating this particular fact peculiarly often in
OoP. Or am I just imagining things (quite possible)?

Kelly replies:

I've had a theory on this since before OotP came out, and this book only
gives me reasons to back my theory up.  I don't think it's a physical
disease that Snape has greasy hair (or potentially oily skin).  Sure, he
might be one who is naturally prone to those two things, but I argue that
his problem isn't some disease.  It's also not a potion he's applying to
himself.  To me, it implies a lack of self-confidence and lack of caring
about himself in general.

What's the first chronological (timeline, not book publishing) reference to
Snape?  OotP, p. 592 US ed.  'a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering
woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner.'  We don't know
exactly how old he is in this scene, but it's definitely before he went to
Hogwarts.  His father is described as having a hook nose, but otherwise
neither parent is physically described.  No mention of greasy hair.  Severus
himself is described as being small and dark-haired.  Again, no grease.
Obviously, he wasn't born greasy, and for those who are into potions, none
was being applied to him when he was little.  On the other hand, we get the
impression that life was not always pleasant at Chez Snape.  Whether Mrs.
Snape was physically abused or whether Severus himself was ever abused in
any way is unknown in canon, but if nothing else he got to listen to his mum
being screamed at by his dad, and the description of this scene gives me the
impression this was not a one-time occurence.  I mean, married couples get
into verbal shouting matches from time to time, but it's not a good sign
when one of them is cowering before the other.

So Severus eventually enters Hogwarts.  I am going to venture out on a limb
here and say that, at the very least, Severus was simply neglected at home.
I also speculate that he felt helpless to stop his dad from treating his mum
badly.  If it was a worse-case scenario, he was made to feel even more
helpless if his father ever abused him in any way.  No matter what way you
look at it, eleven year-old Severus Snape enters Hogwarts with a low
self-esteem.  With all of this on his mind, he could care less what he looks
like.  I also wonder if anyone took pains to even take one look at him to
see if he looked clean and was physically taking care of himself.

What do we see next?  From the same book, page, and edition...'A
greasy-haired teenager sat alone in a dark bedroom, pointing his wand at the
ceiling, shooting down flies.'  Now, we have no idea if this scene took
place before or after the Pensieve scene, but it was during the teenage
years.  Somewhere between whatever age he was as a small boy and here, his
hair has gone to heck.  We know from the Pensieve scene that he did
experience bullying, he was teased by the other kids, and we have no clue
what happened to that pack of Slytherins Sirius said he hung out with at
school, giving us the impression that he was by himself a lot.  But here we
have a boy alone, in a darkened room, shooting down flies.  Again, to me,
this speaks volumes.  We don't know how he's shooting them down, but who
wants to bet that as he does this, he's mentally giving each of those flies
a name?  Again, I believe that he still feels powerless.  He hasn't been
able to stop James and his friends from bullying him.  He is laughed at a
lot.  We have no clue what the situation is with his parents.  By shooting
down flies, he is trying to make himself feel better.  He has power over
them.  And if he is actually using AK on them, it shows that his thoughts
have become so dark at such a young age that he really does wish someone
would die.

All of this leads me to believe he doesn't like himself very much either.  A
lot of times, someone who doesn't take care of his physical appearance
doesn't think much of their internal self, either.  I propose that his
greasiness is a physical manifestation of all his troubles and self-image.
He is not a vampire.  He does not have some disease.  He might be
genetically prone to having oily hair and skin, as are many other people,
including myself.  Unlike the majority of people, though, he doesn't care
enough to keep himself up.  And being a DE and then realizing he was wrong
didn't help in the self-love department, I'm sure.

Kelly Grosskreutz
http://www.idcnet.com/~ivanova